"I think we have covered about half the distance, Jack," was the reply of the young driver. "Still, I'm not sure. You know a boxsled isn't like an auto—it doesn't carry a speedometer."
"Gee! an auto would have been there and back two or three times since we started," was Fred's comment.
"Not in this snow," came from Spouter. "I think you'd get stuck in some of these deep places."
"They do use a few cars up here in the winter, but not many," said Gif. "It's too uncertain."
To make the time pass more quickly, Jack started one of the old school songs, and the others joined him. Then they ended with the well-known Colby Hall cry:
"Who are we?
Can't you see?
Colby Hall!
Dum! Dum! Dum, dum, dum!
Here we come with fife and drum!
Colby! Colby! Colby Hall!"
"I wonder what the neighbors will think if they hear us," remarked Randy.
"I don't think there are any neighbors very close," answered Gif. "There was a house some distance back, but I don't know of any others between here and Cedar Lodge. The other places are beyond the point where we turn off to go down to the bungalow."
They had now to make several sharp turns, and at these spots the road was unusually rough. One runner of the boxsled went up on some rocks, and for a moment it looked as if the turnout would upset.
"Look out there, Gif!"